83 comments:

I took my kid to his first movie the other day. I was so excited. It was Rio, a pretty lame animated feature. We went to a matinee. Got all manner of candy and beverages. Sat down. Wore our 3D glasses.

About an hour in, he looks at me, and he whispers, "Dad, can we go play the video games in the lobby?"

I took my kids to a movie once and got chewed out because my daughter had those shoes with lights that flash on impact and she was sitting in her seat knocking her feet together.

I hadn't noticed. I think being a mom means getting really good at ignoring the sorts of meaningless fidgets and noises your kids make. I think I put a coat over her feet because I never thought of just taking her shoes off.

This wasn't a grown-up movie, BTW. I never took my kids to the theater for adult shows past breastfeeding ages.

I heard this a few days ago. I love it. There is nothing more disruptive in a theater than,1)People talking or 2) people texting. When it is totally dark in a theater and you hear the tap, tap, tap and see the light it is disruptive. Now, if I were at the $2.00 movie that would be one thing. But I like to go to the Arclight Theater, where you pay in advance, get assigned seats and the seats are biggy and comfy. You also pay a premium for that. $13.00 when everywhere else it is $10.50. I don't go to the movies often anymore, because of the price so, when I go, I expect that it will be dark, quiet and NO TEXTING.

Keep in mind, the Alamo Drafthouse has a long-standing thing about this and before every movie (and after they trailers), they show a short clip like this one followed by an attention-getting description in big letters of their policy and how strict they are about enforcing it, including that you won't get a refund if you're kicked out and that texting counts as talking. If someone goes through all that and still doesn't understand, they're not very smart. A big part of why they do this is that it's a place that serves alcohol in the theater and is a "fun" place, and the risk of people thinking that they could talk there would be high if they didn't make it so clear. Even with them being strict I still often encounter people who talk during the movie there.

My wife and I went to a drive-in theater last weekend. Double feature of X-Men and Thor. We set off our car alarm three times by accident. I felt like a total jerk. I didn't even know the car had an alarm. There's a panic button on the key fob, but, whatever...

The first time was my mistake. We were coming back to our car after a trip to the snack bar and I accidentally pressed the panic button. The car only honked once before I shut it off. Stupid, stupid... Got an angry yell from across the lot. Well deserved.

Turns out, if you open the car doors when the keys are in the ignition and the car is not running, the alarm will go off. That's what happened the second time. My wife had dropped something between her set and the door and opened the door to look for it.

The third time, during intermission, we wanted to get out of the car so I pulled the keys out of the ignition and used the driver's side door button to unlock the doors before opening (didn't want to accidentally press panic again). Alarm went off.

Her story isn't very credible. If you're in a theater, there is generally enough light reflecting off the screen to find a seat. I love it when business owners don't give in to temper tantrums by whiny customers. It's high time we expect and demand adult behavior from people, instead of caving into their hissy fits. I love how the theater played the rant and put its logo on the tail end. A subtle way of saying, "Yeah? Shut the front door."

Even though it would be a challenge in these days of online porn, my ultimate fantasy would be to open a porno movie theater that only shows movies featuring full-flavor women. Hey, I can dream, can't I?

I have been to the movies in about thirty years until we recently went to the Kaufman Astoria movie house which was a total eyeopener for me. It was a great experiance. Comfortable staduim seating. Not too crowded. And no loud and rambuctious crowds. Of course we went at off times which was good and we had a wonderful time.

I really enjoyed Thor and look forward to the new Xmen and Captain America movies that are coming out soon.

I am extremely embarrassed that this individual is a part of my generation. I tend to leave my cell phone in the damn car when I head to the movies, but I suppose that's simply too difficult for most of my ever connected peers.

Not really. The Ultimate Marvel line (the parallel, more "adult" Marvel continuity launched in preparation for the X-Men and Spider-Man movies) introduced its version of Nick Fury over a decade ago. He's a black guy who looks like Samuel L. Jackson.

So let's just say it wasn't a surprise when he got the part in Iron Man. :)

can't blame this chick for being pissed off about being tossed out..doesn't sound like she did anything THAT offensive...and if snarky "thanks for not coming to our theater" is the way they treat paying customers, then i'm on her side. that said, i don't go to movie theaters anymore because of the audiences. a big screen tv, surround sound, and a netflix subscription fulfills all my movie needs without the distractions and disruptions from people who no longer know how to act in public.

For the two or three people here who defend this young woman--I'm glad so few do--yes, texting in a theater is distracting to others...as is any activity other than doing what everyone there paid to do--to sit and watch the movie.

If one absolutely must call or text someone or respond to a received call or text while the feature is showing, get up and walk out to the lobby to do so.

As a young person, my best movie experiences involved getting stoned and watching slasher flicks with a racially diverse audience.

We used to purposefully go to Union Station in college for any horror type movies because I think it's fun when people talk back at the screen. But then, if the movie is not serious I would be happy talking through it, so none of this stuff really bothers me. I couldn't care less if people text and talk, as long as the movie isn't Schindler's List or something. (although I don't want to hear anyone's ring tone)

"Ken -- I remember when I lived in New York City and I would occasionally go to the movies. It's a rambunctious, talkative crowd. Lots of talking to the screen."

This reminds me of going to see The Matrix back when I lived in DC. The audience was mostly urban (read, black), and there was clearly a cultural difference concerning audience behavior. They were loud, boisterous, jumping up and high-fiving at the good parts, talking to the screen. I had the same experience: at first I was like, "What the heck are they doing?" and then found that it didn't actually bother me. It did actually add something interesting to the experience. And strangely enough, they were sort of polite about it. I can't quite describe it.

Now, I'd already seen the movie once, so maybe I'd be irritated if I didn't already know what happened. If you go into the movie knowing that's how the locals behave, it's fine. It's far more distracting when everyone is being quiet except one person with their incredibly bright phone turned on in a dark room.

re the texting phenomena--my lady friend and I are always amazed when we see couples on dates who spend most of their time looking at the cell phones and texting and not paying any attention to their dates.As Mr Spock would say: fascinating.

Lots of places in Austin that serve cold beer permit texting, but when they throw you out it's a 6'6" 375# defensive-tackle wanna-walk-on named "Bubba" who throws you out. This is one of Austin's features, though, not a bug.

Places that serve alcohol have special interests in maintaining decorum because their atmospheric tipping point, and their patrons' tippling points, are so often at the far margins anyway.

re the texting phenomena--my lady friend and I are always amazed when we see couples on dates who spend most of their time looking at the cell phones and texting and not paying any attention to their dates.

I do think it's rude to the people you are with. I went to visit a friend a few months back and she is kind of obsessed with her phone. She spent half the time scrolling through some sort of "we love Palin" website. Rude. A date would be worse.

I like those movie houses that serve beer. I enjoy a good burger and fries with the movie too. One time we were watching The Usual Suspects and the sound went out. So we just yelled out lines, roughtly what they would have said and some ad libs. It was a lot of fun. It was like Mystery Science Theater.

When they were talking about Kaiser Soze, I yelled out, "Oh shit! Kaiser Permenente!"

el polacko said...can't blame this chick for being pissed off about being tossed out..doesn't sound like she did anything THAT offensive...and if snarky "thanks for not coming to our theater" is the way they treat paying customers, then i'm on her side. that said, i don't go to movie theaters anymore because of the audiences. a big screen tv, surround sound, and a netflix subscription fulfills all my movie needs without the distractions and disruptions from people who no longer know how to act in public.

At the Alamo Drafthouse blog, management says she was texting, and was warned...twice. That may be false, but I rather doubt it.

It seems apparent the theater runs announcements before the film about the policy, so she had that warning too.

She says she needed her cell as flashlight. The theater has table service throughout the film, so if she showed up at any point, someone could have assisted her to her seat.

Although she seems not bright enough to articulate it, she seems to claim that everyone else who goes to theaters should accept her standards--a little disruption, so what? She isn't alone in this expectation, as witnessed by folks who bring infants to a movie, or who talk, etc.

For such folks, it would not be enough if someone said, "Theater 1 is for texters; theater 2 is for crying babies, and theater 3 is for everyone who wants absolute dark and silence." No, Miss Texter insists that she has a right to enter any theater, anywhere, and disrupt--because it isn't a disruption to her. That mindset is what is rude, not the theater management that stands by its policy--which (a) defends the interests of other patrons and (b) must be popular, or else they'd have thrown in the towel awhile ago.

She claims she can text all she wants at any other theater in town? So what's her beef?

No, Miss Texter insists that she has a right to enter any theater, anywhere, and disrupt--because it isn't a disruption to her. That mindset is what is rude

Not to defend her in particular, since the theater itself has a very strict policy and that's totally fine, but as to the rest some people don't find things distracting and honestly just don't necessarily even realize others might. Because you find everything distracting, you focus on it but some people don't even notice.

Like the little girl clicking her blinky light shoes. Are you rude if you don't even notice, and thus don't correct it? Or is the other person rude for not being able to ignore one tiny thing and insisting on utter and complete darkness and silence in a public place because they enjoy it.

Would it be rude of you to go into a theater with a more urban setting where people enjoy shouting at the movie, where that is part of the atmosphere, and insisting on your own standards of absolute peace and quiet, or is it rude that they are not conforming to yours?

The retro aspect of the Captain America trailer is that they seem to be showing the original Sgt Nick Fury and his Howling Comandos.Those were the books we grew up on not the new politically correct ones with Samuel L Jackson.

I think being a mom means getting really good at ignoring the sorts of meaningless fidgets and noises your kids make.

Yeah, but the rest of us aren't so good at ignoring these things. :)

Your blinking shoes reminded me of the time I was at the drive-in when I was in high school. I was tapping the brake to the music on the screen. After a few minutes, there was a knock on the window - the guy in the car behind us. He politely asked me to quit flashing my brake lights. I was mortified because I had no intention of bothering anyone else and hadn't thought through what I was doing.

I haven't seen the Green Hornet because I was always a Marvel guy. I have this discussion with blake all the time as he was a DC Comics guy. So he is not as familiar with the Marvel universe as I am and I don't know as much about DC.

It is getting interesting that some of the more obscure titles are getting movies. I mean Superman, Batman,Wonder Woman, The Hulk, The Fantastic Four, Iron Man and Thor were all big time titles.

They get into trouble when they make movies about minor superheros or villians like the Green Lantern, Daredevil and Catwoman.

If any comic character should be a conservative I would think it should be Captain America. I mean he is based on an over whelming sense of patriotism born of the life and death struggle against Nazi's and the Japanese. But the ultra-liberal writers like Stan Lee and Roy Thomas and later douchenozzles always have him conflicted and a spokesman for the latest liberal cant and trendy concerns of the Jon Stewart crowd.

Where's the old Captain America who smashed evil doers and fought for our way of life?

I remember a series where the "real" Captain America fought the "1950's" replacement Captain America and Bucky who were created by the government after Steve Rogers was frozen in the block of ice that he was later rescued by the Avengers. The "real" Captain America was disgusted by the "1950's" Capt because he was an anti-communist crusader and as we all know that was all so overblown.

Then in the "Civil War" series Captain America fights the Superhero Registration Act which is a thinly veiled stand in for the Patriot Act. He is assinated although he later comes back to life in various typical comic book shenanigans. He is depicted as standing agianst those evil rascally Republicans and gets his pardon later when the Democrats are back in office.

Then in the "Civil War" series Captain America fights the Superhero Registration Act which is a thinly veiled stand in for the Patriot Act. He is assinated although he later comes back to life in various typical comic book shenanigans. He is depicted as standing agianst those evil rascally Republicans and gets his pardon later when the Democrats are back in office.

My iPhone has replaced my watch, and I often want to check the time when I'm at the movies. Now, I feel like that's wrong. I get so antsy at the movies sometimes, and I want to know is this thing anywhere near over. What to do?

Awesome!! The world does not revolve around her like her mommy and daddy have made her believe. Other theaters in Austin will tell you not to text either if they catch you....so her argument there is false. Its not cause Alamo doesn't allow it....its called common courtesy. Your life doesn't require you to text someone every 5 mins. If you goto a movie, then WATCH the movie, not what Buffy has to say about how Kip treated her in bed the night before. This girl got what she deserved